Phil Demmel, formerly of MACHINE HEAD and VIO-LENCE, currently performing alongside Kerry King in the SLAYER guitarist’s solo project, discusses the inaugural release from King’s forthcoming solo album “From Hell I Rise”
The track titled “Idle Hands” premiered in early February.
Phil said to the Good Company Podcast (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was the first song I heard, and it was the first song that I wrote a solo for. So the solo in that song was the first one that I wrote here in the studio. So it’s kind of cool to hear that being the first one released. And I’m gonna be name-dropping here a little bit, but I was going back and forth a little bit with [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk Hammett today. ‘Cause he had told [DEATH ANGEL and KERRY KING singer] Mark Osegueda, ‘Hey, the solo is awesome. It’s the solo of the year,’ or whatever.
“So I thanked him. I said, ‘Hey, I heard that you dug the solo on the song.’ And he’s, like, ‘Oh my God. I thought that was Kerry. I didn’t know.’ He didn’t put it together. And I missed his call, but he left me this awesome fucking voicemail, dude, saying, like, ‘It’s the best solo of the year so far,’ and all these just glowing things that Kirk Hammett is telling me. [He’s] one of our heroes, and to hear him glow about the solo that’s…. It’s one of my least favorite solos on the record, actually, but to hear him say that it was really personal…”
Demmel also discussed his approach playing solos in the Kerry King project. “I wanna bring that to this band,” he said. “I wanna bring that sense of — I don’t know if it’s melody or… I hate the word ‘controlled chaos,’ but some sort of lineage between the music and the solo sections that kind of make ’em — those solo sections in SLAYER and in Kerry‘s music before are really frenetic.
“What Gary [Holt, SLAYER and EXODUS guitarist] was doing [while playing with SLAYER], it matched all that brutality, and I think that my solos are less brutal in nature. And I had to check with him. So I had to tell Kerry, or ask him, or broach it with him that, ‘This is what I’m doing.’
“I tracked my leads here first and played them 50 times to where I’m just playing them single pass and playing them best as I can and sent them away, and was, like, ‘Hey, this is me and this is what I am going to do here,’ of course, if it’s okay with him, ’cause it’s his trip. And ‘Is that okay?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I love it.’ He’s all, in true Kerry fashion. ‘I don’t hate it.’ So that was a compliment to me getting that out of Kerry King.”
Scheduled for release on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music, “From Hell I Rise” features compositions solely crafted by the 59-year-old musician. Joining him in the recording sessions were Demmel, drummer Paul Bostaph (of SLAYER), bassist Kyle Sanders (from HELLYEAH), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (of DEATH ANGEL). Producer Josh Wilbur, known for his work with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, and BAD RELIGION, among others, helmed the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year.
Kerry King is set to appear as a special guest on the upcoming North American “Ashes Of Leviathan” co-headline tour featuring LAMB OF GOD and MASTODON. The tour, spanning six weeks, kicks off on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas, and concludes on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska. King’s 2024 live performances will commence in May, starting with the Welcome To Rockville festival on May 9, followed by the Sonic Temple Arts & Music Festival on May 16.